


From the Remains

by Fernus



Category: RWBY
Genre: Other, Psychological Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 10:29:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6191530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fernus/pseuds/Fernus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yang encounters the creator of Penny. Both find that the other can offer them a second chance to fix their mistakes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A New Ally

Yang stared listlessly through her bedroom window. Ruby had left a week ago, and Taiyang could not stay in the house forever with the Kingdom in such dire straits. He had promised to get her an Atlesian prosthetic as soon as possible, but she didn't hold out much hope. Unless you were the good General or rich as sin, then the wait was guaranteed to be months at the very least. She decided it was time to make some lunch, maybe she would work out after. She had to keep her strength at the very least. The quiet of the halls was only broken by her soft steps. She missed her dad, but she missed Ruby even more. Ruby was filled with this stupid belief that she could still fix everything. The world simply wasn't that neat and tidy. She continued to ruminate as she rummaged in the cupboard for some bread, but her search was cut short by a sharp knock at the door. Yang briefly considered ignoring it, but any company was better than nothing. She walked over to the door as the stranger continued to knock. When she opened it, she was greeted by a somewhat portly gentleman in Atlesian clothing.

"Hi," said Yang, nonplussed. "Do I know you?"

"Uhm, no young lady, I highly doubt it. I am actually looking for a Miss Ruby Rose."

"My sister isn't here," Yang said, her voice turning bitter. "Who exactly are you?"

"I am, well Ii guess to put it simply I am Penny Poledina's father," said the old man, tears welling in his eyes. Yang's anger quickly abated and she invited the man in. "So I assume you must be Miss Xiao Long then?" the man asked after composing himself. "I've heard almost as much about you as I have about Ruby."

"Yeah, about that," Yang started. "I was wonder-" Yang stopped when she saw the man staring at her, more specifically her stump. "Could you not stare at it?" Yang barked, anger returning to her voice.

"Oh! My apologies, I didn't mean… " The old man stuttered, "did that happen at Beacon?"

"Yeah, and I really don't want to talk about it."

"I understand, and what were you asking?"

"Why are you looking for my sister?"

"Oh, well I guess that does seem a bit odd…" The man paused as if to collect himself. "Penny constantly sent me messages about your sister; Ruby was the only friend my daughter ever had. With communications down I thought it fit to talk to her personally. I wanted…" The old man began to well up again,".. I wanted to see if she would say goodbye." Yang looked down at the table to let the man have his moment. She hadn't really known Penny that well, but Ruby liked her and she had always been a happy person when Yang did see her.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Yang began, " I'll try to contact my sister, but to be honest I'm not sure when or even if she will get it. Once she does though I'm sure she'll come." Yang paused for a moment. "Not to be rude or anything, but what's stopping you from rebuilding her?" The man puffed up in indignation.

"Penny wasn't some throwaway atlantian droid! She was the pinnacle of nearly thirty years worth of research!" He began to get quieter. "She was one of a kind. A confluence of technology and aura that can't simply be replicated. Theoretically the technology could be salvaged, but without an aura bound to her she would be nothing more than a husk."

"Well how did you bind one to her the first time?"

" That was a whole different miracle of engineering in and of itself, and the only one was destroyed in the assault on beacon."

"Then make another!" Yang exclaimed. "Aren't you some kind of genius?!" The old man uttered a bitter laugh.

"Ha! You really think Atlas would fund it? After the fiasco at Beacon, the whole program was defunded and all research purged. That machine cost millions of line and decades of research, there is no recreating it," the man slumped in defeat. "As it stands, I am the only person left with the know how who cares enough to recreate it. Even if I could get the money, I would be dead long before I recreated the research."

"That's awful!" Yang put her hand on the pitiful man's shoulder. " I'm sorry for your loss. I'll try to contact Ruby." Yang desperately wanted to change the subject, she didn't really know how to help the grieving old man. "Uhh, you know I never got your name." The old man looked up and sniffed.

"It's Dr. Marcin," He muttered.

"Well Dr. Marcin, it was good to meet you but I have to get back to training. I'll be sure to contact you when I get a hold of Ruby."Yang prayed that he would get the not so subtle hint. Instead the good doctor perked up at the mention of training.

"Training? Could I watch by any chance?"

"Excuse me?" Yang stuttered, aghast.

"Well you see, I've spent my life studying aura. Watching a Hunter or Huntress apply their abilities, even in training, is a very rare opportunity. Simply observing your semblance would be valuable research."

"Well…" Yang paused for a moment. If she were honest with herself, she wouldn't mind having someone around to keep her company for a little while. She missed her dad, but more than anything she missed her teammates. But if none of them could be around, then this guy would have to do. As long he wasn't getting all teary eyed, he was okay enough. "Yeah, sure why not."

Yang readied herself, breathing deeply and focusing on the task at hand. Before her was a custom made dueling platform. Separated into three free spinning sections, each part was Studded with several metal cudgels and even a few blades. The device was specifically constructed to withstand her natural strength. Every time she hit one of the protrusions, the entire section would swing into her other side. She would either block it or have to absorb it with her semblance. It had been designed to increase her speed, which had always significantly lagged behind her strength. She remembered the last time she had used this thing, it had been irritating even then with both arms. She tentatively struck at the upper section and even then still tried to block with her non-existent arm. She managed to duck out of the way, but just barely. She went for a low kick, and found it slightly easier than one handed boxing. The sections began to move in a rhythm, her strikes hitting with more purpose and strength. She took a truly strong swing at the upper rung, but momentum and her unfamiliar balance carried her through the strike and onto her knees. She looked up just in time to get batted full force in the nose. If her aura hadn't been up it would have felt like getting hit by a train, as it stood it only felt like a mid sized sedan. Wincing, Yang got up and resumed her strikes. WHACK WHACK THUD. WHACK WHACK THUD. Yang continued to restart the process, her frustration mounting. She simply wasn't fast enough. She had never been fast enough, even with both arms. She never saved anyone, she was always too late or too weak. SHE. WHACK WASN'T. WHACK.GOOD. WHACK. ENOUGH! CRACK. Yang was shaken out of her musing to see the platform bent and torn to the point of uselessness. She had knocked the top completely off with that last hit. She had managed to activate her semblance without even realising. She glanced off to the side at the doctor, whose jaw had practically hit the floor.

"Uhm, sorry about that. I guess I got carried away, " Yang muttered sheepishly. The doctor just stared at her. His eyes roamed rapidly around the scene, before staring off into the distance. The doctor muttered something about calculations, then took off running to his car.

" Ms. Xiao Long, " He yelled over his shoulder, "stay near your scroll! This could be monumental!" With that he was gone. Yang didn't really know how to respond, so she decided to check if there were anyway to fix the dueling platform.

Nearly two days later, Yang heard frantic knocking at the front door. When she opened it to a disheveled but ecstatic looking Doctor Marcin.

" Ms. Xiao Long, what would you say if I could get you a new arm?"


	2. Growing Pains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The doctor and Yang begin preparations for her new limb.

“Alright, so explain it a bit more slowly this time,” Yang sighed.

“Right, right. It came to me while watching you train. Penny could theoretically run without her own aura, as long as she is able to draw from an active one. Now normally the draw would be enough to place a serious strain on the aura donor. The key here is your rather unique emblance. I watched your power rapidly increase as your aura absorbed damage. Furthermore, that radiation you put off while your semblance was active suggests that you have a far greater aura than the average hunter. I believe that with proper calibration you could supply Penny with aura without it draining your own too heavily. On top of that, if done properly her aura leaching may also result in a constant base charge for your semblance. Of course there are risks. A cybernetic on its own takes weeks if not months to adjust to, and your body will initially try to reject it. The aura drain will only exacerbate it. All said though, the positives for both parties far outweigh the risks in my opinion. But my opinion has little weight here, you need to decide if you want it.” The doctor prepared to give Yang a moment, but she didn’t need it.

“ So what do we need to get started?” The doctor was somewhat shocked with how easy it had been.

“Are you sure? Even if everything goes according to plan, you will have another sentience for the foreseeable future. While I would obviously want it to happen, you need to be sure you’re ready for that responsibility?

”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything doc,” Yang said with confidence. For the first time in months she was smiling. “ I can take anything you throw at me, and the arm is just a bonus if it means getting Penny back. I didn’t know your daughter that well, but I know it would make everything a little better if she were around again.” The doctor smiled his first genuine smile in a while.

“Let’s get started then.” With that, Marcin typed a quick pass code into his scroll. He waited a few seconds, still smiling, before he heard a dull thud emanate from the backyard. It was time to get to work. 

Yang had initially been peeved when the doctor decided to park his rocket lab in the backyard. It had ended up tearing a massive rut where it landed. However, the backyard wasn’t used for all that much and in the end this was all worth a lot more than an ugly lawn. Over the following week, the doctor took careful measures of her aura output and had begun to craft dummy arms for her to test. It had taken her four days to stop throwing up after the first one was installed. When she finally got her feet back under her, she managed to completely ruin the arm with three solid punches. Yang had torn the mangled limb off, leaving only the joint connector on her stub. The doctor had been apologetic, saying that he had not anticipated that she would be able to apply that much force. However, the starter limb had done its purpose and accustomed Yang to having a foreign object connected to her nervous system. After the doctor had made brief repairs to the joint connector, he gave her another spare arm to wear until he could build her one out of stronger material. Yang busied herself with speed training while the doctor worked. For the first time in awhile she was rearing to get back into the thick of things, and this time she was going to be ready. Weeks passed as the doctor attempted to build a housing capable of holding Penny as well as withstanding Yang’s immense strength. It was a delicate balance, there needed to be enough space Penny without sacrificing structural integrity. Finally one early morning, the doctor left his lab and approached the house. Yang returned from a morning run to find him sitting at the kitchen table, positively giddy.

“I think I have it Yang!” He practically yelled as she walked in the door. “I’d be shocked if even an Atlesian heavy artillery could do more than scratch this beauty,” The doctor gestured to the device on the table. “It’s as much a work of art as it is a scientific breakthrough, if I do say so myself.” The good doctor wasn’t wrong. The arm was mostly white with green highlights and a black fist. It was far sleeker than the arm Yang was currently wearing. There were several indicators across the surface that Yang assumed she would eventually be told the purpose of. Looking closely, she saw a hairline seam tracing an odd design in the center of the arm. On closer inspection, there were two more identical tracings evenly spaced around the forearm.

“What are these?” Yang asked as she fruitlessly picked at the seam with her fingernail.

“Those, Ms. Xiao Long, are my daughters weapon of choice,” Dr. Marcin said proudly. With a quick command from his scroll, the doctor unhoused three daggers from the forearm. Each was connected with a silvery strand of wire that could only be seen on very close inspection. “ They’re an experimental Atlesian alloy, it never dulls. Perhaps your strength could break them, but barring you making a concerted effort to break them they will never fail. They can also serve as conduits for an aura cannon. With your sizeable aura reserves, even this smaller version will be incredibly formidable. You should be warned though, this isn’t a weapon you should use lightly. Even one shot will result in a significant drain on your aura. The blades on their own are formidable and versatile, only use the cannon in the most dire of situations. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Go ahead and try it on, see how it feels.” Yang was slow to process his words, as she was still admiring the machine in front of her. Once she did, she unceremoniously disconnected her trainer arm and reverently picked up the new limb. She quickly connected it, and immediately knew it was right. She brought her fists forcefully together, and was delighted to feel pain in her real knuckles.

“Let’s see what this thing can do!” With that, Yang sprinted from the room out into the back. Before the doctor had even gotten out of his seat, he heard the splintering of a tree. When he walked out, he was greeted with Yang completely flattening her old dueling platform. Yang didn’t even let the dust settle before running off into the woods. The doctor smiled and returned to the house to wait. Several hours later, Yang walked back in red faced and grinning ear to ear.

“This thing is amazing! I never saw it so much as flex wrong, even when I punched through a boulder.”

“So you like it?” The doctor asked, already knowing the answer.

“It’s perfect.”

“Excellent. Then there is only one thing left to do. I’ll install Penny tonight, and we will see if this will work tomorrow morning.” Yang reluctantly removed the arm and handed it back to the doctor. She knew she was too excited to sleep. As the doctor wandered back to his lab to make final preparations, Yang sat down and prepared to anxiously wait for eight hours.

Yang awoke with a start, drool sticking her face to the dining room table. The morning light was bright in her eyes. Yang adjusted slightly and tried to go back to sleep before sitting bolt upright. It was morning. It was time. Yang walked as calmly as she could to the door of the lab and knocked.

“Dr. Marcin? May I come in?”

“Of course child, I’ve been waiting. She is ready.” Yang didn’t need to be told twice. She darted into the lab and saw the arm... Penny now... set delicately on a stand for easy access. “ I wanted to make sure you were well rested Yang. I know you are excited, but this first aura drain will undoubtedly be the most difficult. After this she should draw a manageable amount, but the amount needed to jumpstart everything will be fairly large. Are you ready?” Yang’s face turned sober and determined.

“I’m ready doc. Let’s do this”

“Alright, give me your connector and I’ll attach her.” Yang extended her stump towards the doctor. He delicately aligned Penny to the various connectors and attached them in quick succession. He sent a command through his scroll, and the arm began to activate. Yang knees nearly buckled under her. Her eyes were narrowed to dark funnels. A second wave pushed her to one knee. Her breath came in short bursts, and her entire right side began to go numb. Then, as quickly as it came, the feeling was gone.

“Did it work?” Yang managed to sputter as she caught her breath.

“ SALUTATIONS!”


	3. The Journey Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang and Penny grow in strength and prepare for the journey ahead.

Yang spent the rest of the day resting and getting to know her new partner. Penny had initially been shocked at her predicament. The last memory she had was entering the ring to fight Pyrrha. That wasn’t so bad, Dr. Marcin had been worried that her memory core would be far more corroded. Though Penny was initially distraught at the situation, she quickly adapted. The doctor had added a hologram projector for her, which allowed her at least the mirage of self. Yang did think it was a bit creepy to see Penny’s old body spontaneously appear to talk, but it gave her something to speak to other than her arm. They took a few days to get in sync combat wise. While Yang was the predominant force when it came to movement, Penny did have the ability to move herself and could act completely independently in combat if she wished. While this initially hampered them, they found their rhythm while they trained at a new dueling platform that Dr. Marcin had put together for them.

Yang panted with exertion, the dummy spinning in all directions. Penny’s hologram observed from the sideline, clapping silently whenever Yang executed a particularly fast or crafty block. It was the only way she could comment on Yang’s training without breaking her concentration. Yang executed a quick flip, planning to kick the middle post away from her while simultaneously dodging the upper portion. Things went wrong when her foot failed to connect and switch the direction of the middle bars as planned. As Yang bent her head back, she saw a blade mere inches from her face and approaching quickly. There was no time react, but luckily she didn’t have to. As her left arm continued to the ground to finish the flip, her right arm rose seemingly on its own and caught the incoming blade. Without missing a beat, Yang used her new hand hold to twist out of the hurricane of oncoming blows.

“I’m sorry,” Penny squeeked, “I didn’t mean to interrupt. You looked like you needed help.” Yang was far from angry.

“That. Was. Awesome! Penny, how did you do that?”

“ Well, all my scanners are intact. I could tell you were going to miss the kick, as well as the impending result. So I took action.”

“ I want to try something. Are you up for more of that Penny?”

“Absolutely! But are you sure you want me moving your arm that much?”

“Penny, it isn’t ‘my arm’. It’s you. We’re partners now, and we need to learn how to work in tandem. It can’t just be me throwing punches and you just watching. You aren’t a spectator in this. So, are you read?” The hologram Penny was projecting smiled a wide grin before fading away.

“I’M COMBAT READY!” With that Yang walked back up to the dueling platform and started it spinning again. After a few seconds to pick up speed, Yang stopped moving and closed her eyes. Penny reacted beautifully. Yang felt her move to block three hits in rapid succession, then heard a pressure release as Penny deployed her daggers. The daggers acted as tertiary limbs, blocking points that Penny couldn’t quite reach with Yang perfectly still. Yang felt the speed of the spinning grow in intensity. She decided to see all that Penny could do. Without warning she leapt backwards.

“Penny fire the cannon,” she said quietly as she continued to arc through the air.

“Right!” The blades retracted to about three inches from her forearm and began to spin rapidly around it. As Yang landed she pointed her palm at the training dummy and was greeted immediately with a bright pulse of green light. Her eyes dimmed momentarily from the aura drain, but she quickly recovered. What she saw was a thing of beauty. Roughly a third of the dummy had been reduced to slag. Beyond that she watched as a tree collapsed, its mutilated trunk crumpling under itself. She took a breath and activated her semblance. The amount of aura that the cannon drained had apparently been immense, she could feel her muscles tighten with newfound strength. She lept back towards the dummy and swung Penny wide toward it. without any communication, Penny shifted all three blades to the inside of Yang’s forearm. The combination of the blades and Yang’s immense strength cleaved the top off the dummy as if it were hot butter. Without missing a beat, Yang pulled her normal arm back and batted the free chunk of the dummy into the forest. Yang was the first to laugh. Penny quickly followed. Both had forgotten what it had felt like to feel this powerful, this in control. It felt good.

The doctor had promised to remain at his lab, never more than a scroll call away. He hated to watch Penny leave, but she was meant to save the world. He also had the utmost confidence in Ms. Xiao Long to protect his daughter, she was an exceptional fighter in her own right. He sadly waved goodbye as Yang and Penny began their journey.

Yang had walked in silence for around an hour when Penny’s hologram popped up beside her.

“So what’s the plan Yang?” she asked, beaming.

“It’s time to get the team back together, Penny. I don’t know where Ruby is, but at least she has Ren and Nora with her. She isn’t in immediate danger. Weiss is safe with her father, it's just a matter of smuggling her out of Atlas when we get a chance,” Yang’s voice hardened, “ that only leaves one to find, and I don’t think she wants to be found. But she owes me answers, whether she wants to give them or not. It’s time to find Blake.”

“Do you have any idea where she is?” Yang gritted her teeth.

“No. The last place anyone saw her was beacon, we’ll have to start there.”

“Beacon is still crawling with grimm, Yang.”

“That’s why I’m worried. She doesn’t have any backup. I don’t know what she’s doing but she won’t last long if she stays there. Whether she wants it or not, she needs her team.”


	4. Animal Abuse

Blake leapt from rooftop to rooftop with ease. She had largely stuck to rooftops since the fall of beacon, at this point it was second nature. When the tower fell she had simply ran. She couldn’t protect her teammates, couldn’t protect Yang. If she couldn’t protect them then she had to remove the threat some other way, and that was to get as far away from them as possible. That’s what she had told herself. At first she had simply wandered and hid from the grimm permeating the city. She had stayed at her old dorms for a few nights, but thinking about her team just depressed her. She switched to migrating across the city rooftops, all the while trying to think of somewhere to go. In the end she realized that she had nowhere else to go; She had only ever known the White Fang and RWBY, and she could return to neither. She eventually found a purpose on the fringes of the city. It was there that she discovered a small band of White Fang scouts plodding through the streets. The White Fang still apparently wanted something in the forsaken city. Regardless of what they were looking for, they would eventually find their way back to Adam. The man who had taken everything from her and who had turned the White Fang from righteous protestors to terrorists. She decided then and there to end her fear; once she was done Adam would never be a problem for anyone else.

She shadowed the scouts for over an hour as they picked their way through the ghost town. They occasionally ran into low level grimm, but they appeared to have at least one competent huntsman leading them. Blake could tell from his fighting style that anything larger than a mid-size Ursa would be his undoing. There was no way that he was their only defense if they planned to get anywhere near beacon. Blake realized there had to be at least one other hunter amongst them, and if that were the case then she could not be detected. She did not have confidence that she could handle two hunters, and unknowns were things you never wanted in a fight. Blake was startled back to the situation at hand as a scream emanated up from below. A deathstalker had sprung from a side street and impaled the fledgling hunter on his stinger. As the young man gurgled his last, the deathstalker turned to the remaining faunus. Blake waited for one to jump into the fray, but all of them seemed frozen in fear. She watched as the deathstalker snatched up another in its claws and snapped them like a dry branch; at this point a few had mustered up the courage to ineffectively fire on the beast. Blake could no longer hesitate, regardless of their beliefs they were still her people. She jumped from the roof and landed between the deathstalker and White Fang.

“Run!” The surviving grunts didn’t need to be told twice. She had lost her chance at finding Adam, but it wasn’t worth these people's’ deaths. Blake returned her attention to the deathstalker, who had begun to size her up. Not giving it a chance to make the first strike, she immediately unsheathed gambol shroud and began to fire at its eyes. The deathstalker hissed and charged her, but its claws only found a shadow-self in her place. Blake landed gracefully on the beast's back and took the chance to stab through chinks in its armored hide briefly before leaping away again. The deathstalker seemed only mildly irritated by Blake’s attacks and quickly turned around to continue its assault. Blake easily dodged out of the way again, but quickly realized she was in a losing battle. Her attacks weren’t deep enough to seriously wound the deathstalker; conversely it only had to connect once to end the fight. Blake scanned the battlefield, hoping for anything that would end the fight quickly. She saw salvation in an abandoned shop on the corner.. It had been badly damaged during the initial grimm invasion, two of its walls were missing and a third looked to be on its last leg. It looked as a stiff breeze would send the entire building crumbling to the ground. Blake bolted for it, the deathstalker hissing in frustration behind her. Blake turned to fire a few more shots at the grimm’s eyes, which only served to irritate it further. As the beast raised its claws to shield its eyes it charged at Blake, who had seemingly stopped in front of the building. The deathclaw met nothing but smoke, and continued straight through to the building. The walls trembled with the force of the impact, and the deathclaw had just enough time to turn and watch Blake land unharmed in the Street before the entire structure caved in around it. Blake watched with satisfaction as the stinger twitched once, then went still.

“Bravo, Blake. You always were a creative problem solver.”Blake whipped around, trying desperately to defend herself with gambol shroud. Adam was too quick, and she was met by the butt of his katana. As she faded into unconsciousness, she watched through darkening eyes as Adam kicked away her gun and bent down close to her face. “We have a lot to talk about, Blake.” Adam hefted Blake onto his shoulder and began to walk down the road. Mid step he stiffened and whipped around, every sense he had screaming that he was being watched. He scanned the rooftops but saw nothing. It didn’t matter, he decided, he had his prize. Adam continued the long walk back to base. The silent watcher made no move to stop him.

Blake awoke with a start on a bare dirt floor and her arms chained to the nearest wall. On brief inspection, only one wall was not entirely made of stone. Blake quickly realized that she was in some form of cell. To her horror, Adam was waiting calmly by the entrance.

“Ah, Blake. Good to see you awake. You know, I am truly blessed to have gotten this opportunity again. If you had been even a second slower in defending my scouts, I would have dealt with that stalker myself. Good thing you did though, or we may not have had the chance to talk.”

“Adam, let me go,” Blake said with as even a voice as she could manage.

“My darling, are you denying my hospitality? After everything you’ve done, you would think you would at least have the common sense to not be so rude.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I want to catch up, Blake. Our last meeting was cut short by that blonde bimbo friend of yours.”

“DON’T YOU DARE CALL HER THAT, YOU M-” Blake was cut short as Adam firmly gripped her lips.

“Again with the rudeness, Blake. There’s no need to yell, and you shouldn’t be calling me names.” Adam released Blake, who merely glared hatefully up at him. “ So Blake, I want to know why you did it. Why did you leave the White Fang, your brothers, Why did you leave me?”

“ Because you’re a monster, Adam. It’s as simple as that. You ruined the White Fang with your hate and we became worse than what we were fighting. You decided your demented little Crusade was worth the lives of hundreds.”

“IT IS!” Adam spat back. “And our brother’s and sister’s agree. They are willing to lay down their lives for this. I’m not sacrificing them, they are martyring themselves”

“And what about all the humans you killed along the way? Did they agree to that too?”

“What about them?! Humans decided their fate a long time ago.”

“ Hate doesn’t justify killing!”

“Oh it absolutely does, Blake. But at least now I realize why you left. You value humans above faunus,” Adam crouched down next to her. “ I think you always wished you were human. You hate us as much as they do. And if you want to be human so bad Blake,” Adam pulled a razor from his pocket, “then you don’t need those.” With one swift motion Adam pulled Blake’s ears taught and drew the razor harshly through them. As he left the cell, Blake’s cries of pain echoed through the halls.


	5. A Shadow's Shadow

Yang rubbed her face in frustration, in the process smearing a week’s worth of collected grime. Nearly four days after arriving in the abandoned city, and she still had no idea where Blake was. She had checked their old dorm rooms and found some signs of habitation, but they were over a month old. Blake had been there, but there was no way to know if she still was even anywhere near the city. Yang was sat quietly on a rooftop, thinking about how to go about this. This wasn’t just a needle in a haystack, it was a needle that was actively running away.

“Penny, have you gotten anything on that scanner of yours?”

“Nothing but grimm. I’m sorry Yang, but I don’t think she’s in this sector,” with that Penny’s hologram faded away.

“Well I guess it’s time to move on then,” This was the third scan Penny had done that turned up nothing. Yang didn’t relish the idea of going from building to building, but at this rate she doubted she would manage to find Blake out in the open. Yang hopped up from her seat and dropped softly to the street. Two ursa raised their heads at the unexpected disturbance. The quicker of the two took a step for ward before Penny unceremoniously diced it into odd sized chunks. It’s companion seemed to briefly reconsider its options as Penny’s daggers coiled like a snake about to strike.

“Hold up, Penny. I’ll take this one, if you keep hogging all the fun I’m gonna lose my edge,” with that Yang jumped towards the ursa, firing her remaining Ember Celica to build speed. The ursa swiped futilely at her only to watch her soar just above its outstretched claws, aiming directly for its head. Her blow landed like thunder, the ursa’s skull flattening between her fist and the pavement. Yang dusted herself and began walking to the next sector. “You know Penny, at the very least it feels good to be back in the thick of it. You know what I mean?” 

“Yang,” said Penny as quietly as possible, “keep walking. I sensed movement on the rooftop to our right. It isn’t a grimm, but I can’t sense a heartbeat either. I’m going to hook us up there, be ready to fight.” Yang nodded her understanding as Penny detached her daggers. Penny launched the blades to the hilt in the brick of the building , yanking them both up and over the lip of the rooftop. Once she landed, Yang looked up into the shocked eyes of Neo

“You!” Yang yelled, raising her fist to strike.

“87?!” Penny exclaimed. Neo looked in alarm at Penny, then quickly disappeared in a flash of light.

“Don’t run you coward! Penny, where is she? Penn!” Yang’s demands fell on deaf ears. She looked over at Penny as she pulled up a communication hologram.

“Father! Father!” Penny yelled at the screen projected from her wrist. Dr. Marcin whipped around, facing the screen inside his lab. He quickly waddled up until his face filled the screen.

“What is it, my dear? Are you and Yang in trouble?”

“Father, we’ve encountered Android 87, please advise.” Dr. Marcin visibly jumped at the name.

“Wait what’s going on?” Yang asked, irritated at being ignored.

“I’ll fill you in in a moment,” Penny snipped. “Father, please advise.”

“Right. Capture and contain. Once she is detained, I will send a pickup module to retrieve her. I’m sending you her schematics now.”  
“Schematics received. Thank you father. I will retrieve her shortly.” Penny shut down the display.

“Penny, what is going on?!” Yang barked, frustrated.

“It’s a long story, and we can’t lose her. I’ll talk while you run. Right now she’s a quarter mile on your left and moving fast. Get moving.” Yang wasn’t going to argue chasing down that girl, but she was shocked with Penny’s brusque attitude.

“So you were saying?”

“In all scientific endeavors, there are a thousand failures before the first success. Whereas I was the first success, Android 87 was the last failure.”

“That’s putting it lightly.”

“It’s not her fault! Aura transfer is a delicate process, and all our aura had to come from somewhere. Aura transfer was started as a mere aura drain in order to manage criminals too difficult to keep in prison. The project that eventually created me was just a byproduct, an attempt to put aura’s to use. She’s taking a left up ahead.” Yang corrected her course.

“Wait so they stole people’s auras? That’s awful.”

“It is unfortunate, but it was the only option for these prisoners. It was either that or execution, there was no other way to contain them. At the loss of their auras they got to keep their life.”

“So how does this come back to her?”

“87 was the first semi successful transfer. All previous droids had either fried or rapidly degraded under the stress of the aura.”

“How can you say that so calmly! You’re saying that they would have just as easily fried you! You just got lucky!”

“But I wasn’t me. The blank droids are barely above Atlesian droids in terms of AI. It took the infusion of aura into our systems to grant us sentience. It implants hints of emotions, and almost acts like a soul.”

“So what went wrong with her?”

“She had more than aura transfer into her systems. The felon’s mind imprinted itself on her core systems and superseded her core AI. She was being transferred to my father for correcting when the shipment she was on was hijacked by Roman Torchwick. We assumed we had lost her for good. If 87 wants to disappear, very few people would ever be able to find her.”

“Why is that? What makes her so special.”

“Whereas I was designed as heavy artillery to compliment my auras destructive capability, 87 was designed completely for stealth. Her semblance allows her to refract light. She can do anything from turn herself invisible to leaving afterimages to cover her escape. That, combined with modern Atlesian stealth tech would have made her practically uncatchable. That’s what makes this so important, we may never have a chance to save her again.”

“I don’t think she particularly wants to be saved.”

“ She isn’t herself. My father can fix her. It saves 87 and eliminates a dangerous opponent from the field. No matter what you feel about her Yang, she deserves a chance. Wait! She’s stopped moving. She’s on the rooftop ahead of us, proceed with caution.” With that, Penny disengaged her daggers, leaving them floating at the ready. Yang made the final leap to the roof, but saw nothing.

“There’s nothing her-” Yang was interrupted as Neo appeared at her side, smashing Yang across the face with her parasol. Penny reacted just as quickly, managing to land a glancing blow on Neo’s arm. Yang jumped and swung at her assailant, but her fist passed through thin air. She heard a rush of wind behind her which would have been followed by a crushing blow had Penny not blocked it. Yang flipped away and began to fire Ember Celica, but every shot seemed to be a second too late.

“You can’t hit her like that, Yang! You aren’t seeing the real her. You have to trust me with this one!”

“I can’t do nothing!”

“I’m not saying do nothing,” Penny blocked yet another strike as Neo continued her assault, “Just follow my lead.” Yang breathed deep. She had to trust her partner, Penny was more than capable as long as Yang kept her cool. Yang closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. Penny began to issue orders up through her arm so that Yang could hear her inside her head.

“Low kick, three o’clock,” Yang followed through and heard the satisfying sound of Neo retreating after a devastating gut shot. “I need to access her mainframe to shut her down, Yang. For that to happen I need you to hold her for a few seconds. I’ll corral her towards you, but you need to catch her. Use everything you have and keep her pinned.” Yang nodded subconsciously in agreement, and began to hear Penny’s knives rapidly unwinding and Neo rapidly approaching from the side. “Now.” Yang’s aura flared bright and as Neo dove to avoid the ever present blades, she found herself caught with nowhere to run. Yang grabbed her by the face and brought her crashing to ground, her head sending spiderweb cracks across the roof for twenty meters every direction. Before Neo could regain herself, Yang lowered Penny to her temple. A small spike shot out of her palm and found an access point under Neo’s synthetic skin. After a brief struggle, Neo went completely limp. Penny brought up her communication uplink.

“Father, the damaged AI has been compartmentalized. Please send the retrieval unit.”

“Understood, the module will be there momentarily.” Penny closed the communicator. Yang went to remove her palm from Neo’s head, but Penny insisted on remaining connected.

“I need to scan her visual memory. Whatever she’s seen lately may be of use to us.” Penny scanned for a few moments in silence before abruptly ejecting from the access point. “Yang, she’s seen Blake. You need to see this.” Yang did not like the tone in Penny’s voice. Penny pulled up a video marked as a day old, and what was on it chilled Yang to the bone. On the small monitor she watched from a rooftop as Adam knocked Blake unconscious. She saw as he bent down to lift the defenseless girl onto his shoulder and began to walk away. Yang’s blood was boiling, she heard a rushing in her ears so loud that she almost didn’t notice the retrieval module landing next to her.

“We need to go now, Penny,” Yang whispered horsely. The video was already a day old, who knew what Blake had already endured?

“I agree,” Penny said as she unceremoniously stuffed Android 87 into the retrieval module. with a few quick button presses with her daggers, she sent the damaged droid into the good care of her father. “I believe we were actually near that location before. It was in Sector 1.” Yang made no motion to respond other than to begin running. She kept running all night, only stopping once at the scene in the video where she retrieved Gambol Shroud. Depending on what Yang found, the blade would either finds its way into Blake’s hands or Adam’s back.


	6. Unforgiveable

Yang wanted to scream as she calmly strolled through the forest. She had ran in the direction that she had seen Adam go, but she was no tracker and had quickly found herself lost in the thick forests outside Beacon. The panic she felt threatened to overwhelm her, but she forced herself to be logical and have Penny begin scanning for bio-signatures. It was far more effective than running around aimlessly in the dark, but the waiting made Yang feel physically sick. 

“Penny, do you have anything?”

“ Yang, that's the fifth time you’ve asked. I know you’re stressed, but when I find something I won't keep it to myself.”

“What else am I supposed to do! Gah, I hate feeling this useless. I should have gone after her sooner.”

“You can’t think like that. If you had gone any sooner you would have probably died and I would still be rusting in my Father’s lab. You’ve done what you could, now it’s up to me. Also, your guilt seems to be drawing a few nearby grimm so feel free to use those to distract you,” Penny stated absentmindedly, every moment she wasn’t focusing on the scans was a second Blake didn’t have. Within a few moments Penny’s aforementioned Grimm separated themselves from the inky treeline and lumbered towards the Huntresses. Yang did not need a second invitation and sprinted to meet them. There were three of them, two Ursa with an extremely large beowulf at the front of the makeshift pack. The Ursa were treated to the exceptional sight of the beowulf’s head separating from its body and embedding in a nearby tree. Even if they had been intelligent enough to reconsider their options, they wouldn’t have had the time to even fully process their folly. Yang was upon them like lightning. Within seconds the majority of their bodies were somewhere between chunks and mist. Yang straightened up from the brief brawl and sighed with momentary relief, but the feeling of sickness quickly returned. If she was too late, no, she wouldn’t let herself be too slow this time. She would save Blake, no matter what the cost. Hours passed before anyone broke the silence.

“I sense eight signatures coming from Beacon. They’re a half mile straight ahead.” Yang immediately began sprinting. When she got within a few hundred feet she transitioned to leaping between branches; if it was the White Fang then she couldn’t risk detection. As she approached, she knew she had found her opening. There were eight White Fang grunts loading 2 large metal cylinders onto a Bullhead.

“ I still thinks it’s bullshit that we had to cart these all the way out here. Why couldn't they just pick it up at the tower,” one of them said to no one in particular. What seemed to be the leader turned on the grunt and began mocking him.

“OH, why didn't we think of that?! Tell ya what, if you ever have another bright idea to get the rest of our air force shredded by griffins let us know,” the man turned back to the job at hand, “Fucking moron.”

“Penny, we need to be on that thing when it takes off. Get your daggers ready. Penny?” Yang looked to her arm, which had gone entirely silent. “Penny?” Yang whispered urgently.

“Yang… those are parts to the aure transfer device. We need to recover those! I can get a body again!” Yang was surprised by the urgency in Penny’s voice, but on reflection she was shocked she had been so callous. She had assumed Penny would be content as she was, but Yang knew that if she were in the same situation she would dream of having a body every waking moment. Penny had obviously not complained before, there was simply no way for her to change the situation. But now Penny had hope, unfortunately it was at the worst of times.

“Then we’ll get them. But first thing’s first Penny, we need to be on that Bullhead when it takes off. Then we need to find Blake,” Yang hoped that she could keep that promise.

“Right!” The White Fang had finally managed to fit the pods into the aircraft and were now making their way inside. The engines fired and the ship quickly began to ascend. Penny fired her daggers, sinking them into the base of the aircraft. Yang felt her feet leave the ground as Penny wound up her razor wire. Yang clung to the underside of the carriage for half an hour before a camp became visible ahead of them. As the ship began its descent Yang released her hold and caught herself on a nearby tree. She quickly realized that this would be the most difficult part of the rescue. Guards dotted the encampment with two dedicated watchtowers near the main entrance. In the center of the camp sat a crumbling stone building with who knew how many more White Fang inside. 

“Penny, can you magnify them? I need a better look.” Penny’s only response was to open up the holo-projector. Displayed on the screen was a much clearer shot of the inner encampment. Yang watched through the monitor as the Bullhead landed. The White Fang began unloading the aura pods. As they began to move them out, one grunt slipped and dropped a pod on its side. All of the others unloading paused to look at him, then shift focus to something off camera. Without words Penny quickly readjusted, the monitor now showed an irate Adam Taurus rapidly approaching the Bullhead. Adam began yelling at the offending grunt, who gesticulated to the pod and simply shrugged. Almost faster than Yang could process, the faunus’s head separated from his shoulders and raced his limp body to the ground. Yang dry-heaved from both shock and rage, if this was who she was dealing with then maybe she was too late. When she was able to refocus on the projection she watched as Adam walked determinedly away. She tracked him as he approached two guards who waited for him holding a heavy chain. When he reached them, they relinquished the chain to him. He gave it a rough jerk and began walking towards the crumbling building in the center of camp. Penny followed the chain back to its source, which she quickly realized was a mistake. The far end of the chain was connected to a collar around the neck of Blake Belladonna. Her head was bowed, but that didn’t stop Penny from seeing the bruises traced across her face and disappearing under her clothes. Even worse though, was what wasn’t there. Both Penny and Yang had ample time in the brief flash of Blake to see ruined flaps of skin where her faunus ears used to be. Penny turned off the monitor. She trembled internally as she felt power begin to radiate from Yang, incredible waves of it. The tree branch they were standing on caught fire as Yang’s aura grazed it. 

“Yang?”

“He better hope I kill him quickly.”


	7. Demons

Yang convulsed in rage. She went to leap from the tree, but Penny’s voice resonated inside her head.

“Yang, wait!”

“There’s no time left to wait, Penny! We need to go now!” Yang moved to jump again, but found herself unable. Penny had sunk her daggers into the tree and wound them tightly. With one sharp pull, the trunk splintered uselessly around the blades.

“Yang, don’t be a fool! You are already down an arm against this guy!”

 

“I can’t do nothing!”

“I’m not saying do nothing! I’m saying don’t rush in there like you always do! If you do then we all die, Blake included! We need a plan!”

“Alright then what do you have?! Because the way I see it, the fact that there are at least thirty White Fang down there along with Adam isn’t going to change any time soon. But I’m not waiting around for some miracle, I’m going down there and taking them all.”

“Well I do have a plan,” Penny said hesitantly. She certainly had one, but she didn’t like it.

Blake walked dutifully behind Adam, her chain dragging in the dirt ahead of her. At first she had protested the chain, but Adam met any resistance with a closed fist. Blake had quickly learned to accept any part of Adam’s “retraining” silently. It hurt less that way. Any hope she had of escape was waning quickly. She was alone and Adam would punish her if he caught her trying anything. She had no plan, and no way out.

“Blake darling, stop draggin your f-” Adam was interrupted as a green light cut through the camp. Blake watched as the light tore through the pods Adam seemed so protective of. She managed to create a clone before a massive explosion emanated from the machine, sending shrapnel and White Fang through the camp. Her semblance began to crack as three chunks of metal imbedded themselves in it. Adam had not been so fortunate, a single fist sized piece had buried itself in his thigh. The wound didn’t seem to be too painful though, as he still clung unflinchingly to her chain. It proved a futile effort on his part though, as Gambol Shroud landed with the force of a small meteor, severing the chain completely. Blake stared briefly in shock before instinctively grasping the hilt. 

“Ah ah ah. Blake, what did I say about weapons?” Adam stood above her, grinning as Blake went to shield her face. “You know there will be a punishment. Later though, first we have to deal with her,” Adam said motioning into the smoke at an approaching figure.

“Blake! What are you doing? Fight!” Yang screamed as she ran towards them.  
“If you fight her Blake, it can go back to how it was. You’ll stand back at my side, I’ll know you’re in your right mind. There won’t be any more training.” All Blake could think of was the impending pain, Adam’s rage if she defied him. But it was Yang. She couldn’t live with herself. Blake’s hands shook as she stood, her eyes darting between Adam and Yang. What could she do? Adam saw the hesitation in her eyes and went to remind her of her position, but his hand met only a cold imitation. Blake ran into the distance, dragging the broken remains of her chain behind her.   
“That was a mistake, my love,” Adam muttered as he threw a dagger at her fleeing figure. Instead of her back, the blade met another in mid air.

“You aren’t laying a hand on her, Adam,” Yang spat, Penny’s blade returning to its housing.

“You really are persistent girl,” Adam said pleasantly, “ You know I’m just going to go find her after I kill you. What a shame, my pet was so close to being house trained again. I’ll have to start from scratch because of you,” With that Adam launched himself at Yang. Even though she was prepared, Yang still barely managed to dodge the first strike. Adam rapidly adjusted, throwing a backward strike as he passed. This time it was only Penny that stopped Adam’s thrust, the blade sparking harmlessly against her. Adam hadn’t anticipated the reaction time, leaving his face wide open for Yang. She capitalized, sending him tumbling nearly ten meters away. He rose too quickly for Yang’s liking though. Even with a shot to the face and three inches of steel in his leg, Adam seemed remarkably unphased.

“I have to say, you have improved significantly from the last time we met,” Adam drawled, “not that that says a whole lot. However at the very least you’re worth fighting seriously, no more games.” Adam’s blade began to glow a bright crimson, “know that you brought this on yourself.” Adam refreshed his assault, moving almost faster than Yang could follow. Penny sent her daggers at him, but he merely batted them away as he charged forward. He swung for Yang’s legs, marking a shallow slice on her thigh as she leapt to avoid him. Yang could only protect her center as a barrage of strikes whittled away at her aura and body. Penny managed to pull them from the fray for a moment and give them some breathing room.

“He’s fast.” Penny stated simply.

“Top notch battle evaluation as always, Penny,” Yang muttered, “ charge the cannon.”

“Are you sure? Taking that much aura in this fight doesn’t seem advisable.”

“Just do it! Take everything I have,” Yang smirked, “I have a plan.” Adam seemed content to wait Yang out, he was stood calmly across from her as Penny’s blades began to rotate. Yang felt light-headed and her vision blurred as Penny drained every spare bit of aura she had left. This next shot would be her last, she had to make it count. She saw a brief flicker from the far side of camp as Penny confirmed a complete charge. Yang smiled. It was all or nothing. She rushed Adam as he almost leisurely raised his sword to meet her. Penny was mere inches from the blade when Yang muttered one word, “Fire.” The cannon managed to stop Yang’s fist completely as it met Adam’s blade. The two hovered, mere inches apart, as Adam’s blade began to glow with far more intensity. In mere moments it began to glow so bright that it was painful to look at. Yang and Adam both held firm as the light raged. With the last vestiges of the aura beam however, both heard a distinctive snap. Yang’s fist began to move again, passing effortlessly through the blade. As his blade splintered, Adam felt as Yang landed a semblance charged blow that sent him reeling. As he flew through the air, both watched as his aura collapsed in on itself. With her aura drained, Yang’s semblance had grown powerful enough to collapse Adam’s defences with a single blow. When Adam came to a rest, he slowly began to rise to his feet.

“Get over here!” Yang yelled, sending Penny’s daggers straight for his back. The daggers were hair’s breadth from their mark when Adam turned and snatched them from the air. With one violent jerk, he tore them free from their lodging. His limbs began to glow with the same light as his sword. Before Yang could defend herself, Adam was upon her. With one hand he lifted her by the neck while the other held Penny securely behind Yang’s back.

“That was foolish girl, though I must admit quite impressive,” Adam paused to tighten his grip on her throat, “If you had been just a little stronger you may have killed me. As it stands, you were just strong enough to ensure my victory.” Yang sputtered, trying desperately to breathe. “Any last words? Anything you want me to pass along to Blake when I find her?” Adam loosened his grip ever so slightly.

“Yeah,” Yang wheezed. “Whoever said anything about me killing you?” As she finished speaking, Gambol Shroud sprouted from Adam’s chest. In shock, Adam released Yang from his vice-like grip. Yang coughed and sputtered on the floor as Adam turned his head to see a trembling Blake behind him. He half-heartedly lifted his hand towards her, only earning him fresh pain as she twisted her blade.

“Blake..” Adam began hack blood, “my love.” At the sound of his words, Blake ceased trembling completely. She brought her face to Adam’s.

“I’m not yours, and I never will be,” Blake applied her boot to his lower back and pried him from her blade. He landed with a soft thud in the dirt, his blood pooling beneath him. Yang rose to her feet and looked at Blake. They said nothing. Yang wrapped her arms around Blake as Gambol Shroud joined Adam in the dust. Blake returned the embrace as her body shook with sobs of relief.


End file.
